MAY THE LONG TIME SUN SHINE UPON..ALL LOVE SURROUND YOU AND THE MUSIC WITHIN YOU, THE SONGS OF YOUR OWN, GUIDE YOUR WAY ON..... i am only a few hours away from that venue will someone immediately e mail me with that news at darkstar2025@yahoo.com

Written by Mike Greenhaus
Tuesday, 02 September 2008
The surviving members of the Grateful Dead have fleshed out the details regarding their upcoming benefit for the Presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama. As previously reported, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart will perform together for the first time since 2004 on October 13. The group has now confirmed that the benefit will take place at State College, PA’s Bryce Jordan Center, with the Allman Brothers Band and an undetermined opening act also set to appear. Confirming numerous reports, guitarist Warren Haynes and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti will augment the core members of The Dead.

Last February, Weir, Lesh and Hart performed together for the first time since 2004 at a Deadheads for Obama show held at San Francisco’s The Warfield. In May, Weir also joined Phil Lesh & Friends onstage as part of the closing of the Warfield celebration. At that performance, Weir helped Lesh and his band through “Cream Puff War,” “Morning Dew,” “New Minglewood Blues” and “Viola Lee Blues” as part of the group’s recreation of the Grateful Dead’s self-titled debut. Hart and Weir have also shared the stage a few times in recent memory, most notably in Golden Gate Park as part of the Green Music Festival.

Though reunion performances are scarce, the members of The Dead have played together a few times since 2004. In 2005, all the core surviving members of the Dead sans Phil Lesh shared the stage at the Comes a Time benefit. A year later, Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann collaborated with former Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay at Gathering of the Vibes and, in early 2007, the three musicians performed with Haynes and an assortment of guest musicians at an inauguration party for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. If the October 13 benefit goes well, The Dead is expected to tour in April and May of 2008.

Make it a free, no budget involved (like many shows jerry, bob,phil,mickey,bill,pig,pig,pig,brent,keith & donna did). It's a good cause, Never is it perfect, but if it helps tilt the planet towards a better direction shouldn't it be worth a little effort from us all. By showing our support for a better direction, I believe jerry would be proud and pleased. He was always nudging us toward a better direction. Never came out on stage and shouted it out, but just gently led us all in that direction. My guess is that if he still saw the same need , to give that same nudge again now, He would start to be a little peeved, as are his bandmates. We need a better direction,when you see another road and you are lost in the forest, and have been traveling down that road and are hungary and thirsty and feel very isolated, you see another path , sounds like maybe there's water,maybe some purple berries,shouldn't we go down that path.Hope, not certainty, but hope...very invigorating,magical. sometimes it's all you need,a spark of life to find the right path.
We should all be grateful for what these beautiful people from this wonderful band are doing.
Peace,hope, understanding,and above all a love for one another and all the views we have.

By Mike JosephUNIVERSITY PARK — Barack Obama’s Web site reported today that the surviving members of the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers will perform at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center on Oct. 13 in support of the Democratic presidential candidate.

However, Bernie Punt, director of sales and marketing at the Bryce Jordan Center, said reports of such a concert is creating "quite the buzz" but that the concert has not yet been confirmed.

The Obama Web site blog by Larry Finklestein said Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart “will indeed reunite along with Warren Haynes and Jeff Chimenti for a benefit concert” for Obama.

The Allman Brothers Band also will appear, the Obama Web site said, with another band, not yet identified, to appear as well.

Obama campaign officials also could not be reached to comment on whether Obama himself plans to make a Penn State appearance as well on Oct. 13, a Monday. Presidential candidates to not normally schedule such appearances so far ahead of time.

It will be the first time since 2004 that Weir, Lesh, Kreutzmann and Hart have played together, Philadelphia Inquirer Sam Wood reported in a blog Wednesday.

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